Shades of Gray
by KaizenUchiha
Summary: This is a story of a hollow. The secret truth behind Aizen's arrancar army. All will be explained. OCxOC main pairing, there might be others. Action-packed, possibly angst. Please, give it a chance, i suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello there, Kaizen here. This is my first real attempt at writing a fanfic, so please, be kind. Also, this will be my first post in like, a year; yeah, i know, what the hell have i been doing all this time? The answer, nothing really.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bleach and all its characters belong to Tite Kubo. The lyrics at the beginning of the chapter are from Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, i don't own that either.**

_I walk a lonely road, the only one that i have ever known._

_ Don't know where it goes, but it's only me and i walk alone._

_Roughly 50 years before the hollowfication incident, Hueco Mundo._

A powerful sandstorm, a rare occurrence here in Hueco Mundo, was raging. A single hollow could be seen in the vast emptiness that was this unforgiving wasteland.

This hollow, an adjuchas, bore the appearance of a large gray wolf with spikes, like those of a Menos, around its neck. He trudged alone towards a far off cave, an entrance to the Menos Forest, where he would be able to escape this storm and rest.

After several moments of walking he finally reached the cave and lay down. He had not rested in several days, not since...

_"No... I mustn't think of that." _he thought to himself as he shivered. Four days. It had been four days since he had last rested, three since 'it' had happened. _"Gah... damnit." _he groaned, _"Why can't I get that out of my head?"_ He sighed, "I need to sleep." he closed his eyes and swiftly drifted off to sleep.

Several hours later he awoke to the sound of howling, a sign that other hollows were nearby. He growled, one of the howls sounded familiar, could it possibly be that same pack of hollows? Had they followed him?

"Damnit, why must something always disturb my rest?" he tried to stand, cringing in pain from his wounds from the other day, they still hadn't healed. He could sense them now, they were getting closer.

He had to flee, but he couldn't do so very quickly with these injuries. But he couldn't stay here; he didn't stand a chance against them all, not on his own.

_"Alone..." _A voice seemed to whisper inside his head. He had always been alone, but now he truly felt it. He tried to shake it off, but at that moment the group of hollows appeared. There were five of them.

"Hehehehe... Looks like we found him." one of the hollows, who looked like a large ape-ish creature, said. "You know, we've been looking for you for a while. Can't let our prey escape, now can we?" another, more human looking hollow spoke.

He was obviously the leader, "Vormund... my dear, old friend. You should have let us kill you with the rest of your lousy pack. It would have saved us a lot of time, and you wouldn't have to die alone." The lead hollow cackled, "No matter, at least I still get to watch you die."

Finally, Vormund, who had stood there silently all this time spoke, "Traitor, i trusted you, then you killed all of them. My pack. You WILL pay." Strangely, he felt as though tears were coming to his eyes.

"Strong words for a man that's about to die. Get him!" the leader commanded and the other four hollows charged him. Right before they hit him he cast a negacion around himself, this ability was a skill that only Menos possessed, usually. He was the only adjuchas who could still use it, and he typically used it as a shield.

The hostile hollows bounced right off of the barrier, and he sonido'd out of the cave. However, he didn't get very far before he was stopped by their leader, who smashed him into the ground.

The head hollow, a very powerful adjuchas, had once been his closest ally, but now only wanted him dead. If it were just them fighting, Vormund would be able to win, even as injured as he was. But he had companions, Vormund couldn't win, he had to run.

Before he could stand the five hollows surrounded him, he couldn't escape now. "Damnit..." now he had to fight. If he were a Vasto Lorde this fight would be easy, but he was not, this would be quite a challenge and he probably wouldn't make it out alive.

He could still give it a shot though, he took a deep breath a let loose his spiritual pressure, two of the weaker hollows nearly fell to their knees under its weight. However, it only slowed them down a little and the four attacked him while their leader watched. Good, his odds had gone up, since the five of them hadn't charged him at once. He could probably handle these four if their leader stayed out of it till the end.

He leapt into the air to avoid the four of them, then twisted around and lunged at the ape-like hollow. He tore its head clean off its body, all of it vanishing in an instant.

The other three rushed at him from different angles, he quickly fired a balla at a second, chameleon-like hollow, disarming it (literally), but not killing it. That left two, which managed to pin him to the ground, their leader laughing evilly. "My, my, Vormund, you put up quite the fight, but this is the end. Say goodnight."

The two lesser hollows charged up ceros, preparing to finish him off. He closed his eyes and waited. The moment they fired their ceros he opened a Kumon between him and the blasts, which were absorbed by the rift.

He then opened a second one behind the hollows, and the cero was let out killing both of them. "What the hell?" their leader shouted, surprised and pissed at the same time.

Vormund stood and shook himself off, "That was a Kumon, when i ascended to adjuchas class i kept many of my Menos abilities. That was one of them." he answered, then in a mocking tone, "But i've never done a double Kumon while i was this injured, it drained pretty much all of my energy, so I can't do much more. Go ahead, Celio, _try_ to put me out of my misery."

The angered adjuchas fired two ballas at him; he only managed to dodge one, the second one blowing of his right hind leg. With a yelp of pain Vormund fell to the ground.

Celio raised both his hands above his head and started charging a cero "This is the end, there's no way you can escape me now." He fired the cero, which caused a giant explosion on impact, tearing the landscape and Vormund apart. Then...nothing.

**A/N: And that is the first chapter. How about that cliffhanger eh? Anyway, read and review, tell me what you think of it. I think i turned out okay, but it's up to you. Tell me if you think i should continue.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Sorry about taking so long to get this chapter up, i know i promised to have it up like last weekend, i got distracted. Oh well, here it is. Chapter 2 of Shades of Gray.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or any of it's characters, they belong to Tite Kubo; nor do i own the song that the lyrics at the beginning are from. I do own the OCs though.**

_Here comes the rain again_

_Falling from the stars_

_Drenched in my pain again_

_Becoming who we are_

_As my memory rests_

_But never forgets what I lost_

_Wake me up when September Ends_

_Wake Me Up When September Ends-Green Day_

_The Seireittei, roughly 10 years later..._

A young shinigami was walking down a hallway in the Squad 5 barracks, she was carrying several books she had just checked out of the library and was heading to her room.

"Yoake, hey Yoake." a voice called out to her, "Huh?" She turned around, to find her friend Alexis rushing up to her, "What'cha doing?" her friend inquired.

Yoake stood at about 5"9', with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes, while Alexis was a little shorter and had long blue-ish hair and odd, yellow eyes.

"Oh nothing, just heading to my room to read some books." she answered. "Ah... well, guess what?" Alexis said, "What?" Yoake asked, "We have a mission, you best get ready" Alex answered.

The two had stopped walking; they were in front of Yoake's room, "Okay... I guess I'll get ready then." Yoake pouted, she was really looking forward to her books. She sighed, "See ya in a little bit Alexis."

She turned and opened her door, walking into her room. Yoake, who was the 7th seat, had her own room, like all seated members, which she was allowed to decorate however she wanted, as long as she paid for it all.

She had the same bed as everyone else, though she was saving up for a better one; she had posters and pictures all over her walls, and a bookshelf and dresser along one wall, her desk along another.

She set her books on her bed and started packing for her mission, wondering what kind of mission it was and who all she would be going with.

When she finished packing she grabbed her bag and left her room, closing her door behind her and setting off for the squad meeting room to learn her mission. When she got there she saw Alexis and a couple unranked members she didn't know the names of, guess that was her team. Her brother was also there, he would probably be giving them the briefing.

He spoke in his usual calm voice the moment she walked in, "Ah... good, Yoake has arrived, now i can begin the briefing." just as she thought. Her brother, Sosuke, had recently been promoted to 3rd seat, as such he had all sorts of duties, mission briefing was one of them.

"As you all should know, there have been many hollow sightings in the outskirts of the Rukon lately. Your mission is simple; you will partner up with a group from squad 9 and wipe out the hollows. You will meet up with them at the West Gate in an hour." he explained.

Alexis raised her hand, "Um... who's the leader of the Squad 9 group?" she asked. "Kaname Tosen." Sosuke answered, "Why'd you wanna know?" Alexis blushed. "No reason." Though she didn't like to admit it, Alexis sort of had a crush on Tosen.

The five of them left the barracks, heading for the West Gate to meet up with the group from Squad 9. They would be a little early, but that would be fine. If the other group was there as well they could leave early and have their mission done sooner.

As they walked down the street the three unranked members chatted amongst themselves, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the Seireittei around them.

"So, what kinds of hollows do you think we'll be facing?" Alexis asked, "Probably just a bunch of average level hollows." Yoake answered. "We're almost there everyone" she shouted to the others, she had been placed in charge of this mission since she was the highest ranked shinigami out of both groups.

When they reached the gate Tosen and his team was already there, waiting for them. "You're late." Tosen announced. "No, we're early, you idiot." Alexis snapped, she had a weird way of showing her affection.

"Whatever, let's go, we're wasting time." Tosen commanded. _'No arguments there.' _Yoake thought, _'I want to finish this mission as quickly as possible.'_

They left for the forest, heading through the Rukon. The crowds of the Rukon were even greater than the ones in the Seireittei, louder too. "This is the first time I've been to the Rukon since I headed to the Academy." Alexis pointed out.

She had graduated the academy a little over a year ago, but it had taken her quite a while to get through it, she didn't test well. "I know, Alex, I am your best friend after all." Yoake responded. As they traveled through the Rukon, they watched the people around them and saw how different life was out here.

There were people sitting on the side of the road begging for money, there were people wandering aimlessly up and down the road with no destination, clothes were tattered, some buildings were falling apart, it was kind of depressing. "It's so different out here." one of the lesser shinigami said. "Yeah..." Alexis mumbled, "It is, i'm glad I got out of here when I did."

They were getting closer to the forest and they could here the hollows howling. It's a good thing they had left early; the hollows were getting really close to the Rukon and all the souls in it.

"Listen, we're getting close. Get ready." she commanded as she drew her zanpakuto and rushed ahead. Tosen and Alexis close behind, swords in hand as they broke through the tree line.

The moment they stepped into the forest they saw the first few hollows; there were at least six, all low-level. "This should be easy..." Yoake said as she jumped into the air, bringing her sword down in a long arc striking one of the hollows on the top of its head.

Her blade got stuck in its mask, but Alexis finished it off by cutting it in half diagonally, which freed Yoake's blade. Tosen quickly cut down two of the hollows with one strike; he really was a master swordsman.

The unranked shinigami went after the other three hollows together. At that moment a 7th, larger hollow burst through the trees, this one might've been a Gillian class. "Uh oh..." Alexis groaned, "That one looks dangerous."

"I've got this." Tosen said as he rushed forward to face it alone. The large hollow charged at him, meeting him in the middle it swiped at him. He blocked it with his sword, and then shot it with a shakaho.

The hollow stumbled backward and roared. "Damnit, you idiot." Alexis ran to join Tosen in his battle, leaving Yoake alone. "I guess i'll help the others." There were seven unranked members with them, those seven were fighting the three remaining hollows, and losing. "No wonder they're unranked, this is just sad." she ran over to help them.

"That went quite well, if i do say so myself." Yoake commented as they were walking back to the Seireittei. They had taken care of all the hollows in a little under 4 hours and were now heading home, and there had been no casualties.

"I guess so..." Alexis answered, Tosen just grunted. The others were all complaining about the injuries they had received. "Hey, Jidanbo, open the gate." Tosen shouted as they walked up to the Seki Seki wall. "Of course." Jidanbo had been waiting by the gate for them by the gate since they left. He grabbed the bottom of the gate with both hands and pulled it open, "There you go."

They walked through the gate and headed down the road a short distance before parting ways and heading to their respective barracks. "So... what're you gonna do when we get back to the barracks?" Alexis asked,

"Hm... I'll check on my brother, then i'll probably go read my books," Yoake answered. "Oh, sounds fun. I'll get something to eat, and then meet up with you in your room and we can party." Alexis said as she walked away without waiting for an answer, "Okay..."

She walked down the hallway which was virtually empty right now, everyone was out training. She knocked on her brother's door "Onii-sama, you there?" but there was no answer, so she just opened the door and walked in.

"Sosuke..." she looked around his room, which was dark, he was nowhere to be found."Hm... I wonder." she commented to herself, unlike most people Yoake new of a secret room built underneath his bedroom, his lab.

She walked over to his bookshelf and fiddled with the books until she found what she was looking for, _A Brief History of the Soul_. It was one of her brother's favorite books, and underneath it on the shelf was a false bottom, where a switch was hidden.

She moved the book and opened the false bottom to flip the switch, which opened up a trapdoor in the middle of the room. She followed the stair to the bottom, the door closing behind her. Once there she flipped a switch on the wall and the lights turned on revealing the contents of the room, all sorts of scientific equipment and machines.

She looked around the room it was the same as always, but something felt off. She followed the feeling of... dread, no that wasn't it, bizarreness, to the far end of the room. When she got about 10 feet from the back wall she bumped into an invisible barrier. "What the hell..." she said as she reached out and touched the invisible wall.

Where her hand met the barrier there was a faint green light, she pressed on it and the light got brighter. "I wonder, maybe if I..." she pushed against the barrier as hard as she could with both hands, and she fell through, it didn't break, she just passed through it.

However, she wasn't expecting it and crashed to the floor on her face, "Ow..." she rubbed her nose as she got up." The hell was-" she stopped when she looked up and saw a blue-ish bubble floating in mid-air.

Inside the bubble was a man, she couldn't see him very well. But he appeared to be only a little older than Yoake, and he was unconscious. "Who…" she stepped over and placed her hand on the bubble, ripples spreading out from her palm, "Who are you?"

His eyes opened up the moment her hand touched the bubble. Why would Sosuke have someone trapped down here in his lab, "Hang on, I'll get you out of there." She said to the man in the bubble. She drew her zanpakuto and took a stance, preparing to stab the bubble.

She thrust forward, the moment the tip of her blade met the bubble it popped, but her blade kept going. She didn't have time to pull back before it hit him; however, it bounced off his skin without even leaving a mark.

He remained floating in the air for just a moment before crashing to the ground, Yoake rushed to his side and dropped to her knees. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked him, but he didn't answer.

Now that she could get a closer look at him she noticed some things about him. He had long, spiky, silver-gray hair, there were black marks under his eyes, like a wolf's, his ears were slightly pointed, his skin was a little pale, there was some muscle tone, and he looked a little shorter than her. Besides a collar, vambraces, and what appeared to be a wolf's fur sash he wasn't wearing anything, he also appeared to have part of a mask on the lower right side of his face. His eyes had looked blue when she saw them, but they were closed now so she wasn't sure.

Then he groaned and looked up at her, "Where…?" he said weakly. "It's okay; you're out of the bubble. I'm Yoake. What's your name?" she explained.

"My name..." he looked lost for a moment, and then came back, "My name is Vurmond, Vurmond Croft." he answered just before coughing and closing his eyes again."Don't worry; i'll get you out of here. Hang on." she told him as she picked him up, he was surprisingly light.

_"But where can I take him?" _she wondered. She'd figure that out later, right now she had to get out of here before her brother got back. She rushed towards the stairs, passing through the invisible barrier like a fog.

She flipped the light switch off, which opened the trapdoor at the top of the stairs. She ran up the stairs and out of her brother's room, then shunpo'ed to her room. She closed her door behind her, and set him on her bed.

_"What should I do with him?" _she asked herself. Just then there was a knock at her door, "Hey, Yoake. I got the food!" Alexis shouted from the other side of the door, "Can I come in?"

"Uh... no, I'm busy. I don't have time to party right now." "_Go away please',_ she begged silently."Okay then... See ya later." Alexis said glumly, Yoake could hear her footsteps going down the hallway.

"Phew... that was close." she said quietly as she walked over to her bed and kneeled down. He seemed unconscious again, that was bad. He needed to wake up so she could find out who he was, why he was trapped in Sosuke's lab, and what she was gonna do with him before her brother found out he was gone.

"C'mon, wake up." she said. _"That didn't work, okay, I'll try something else." _She grabbed his arm, and brought it up to her mouth. Then she bit him as hard as she could, but it was like biting into steel. "Ouch..." she yelped as she rubbed her jaw, "What the hell are you made of?" Her yelp startled him awake, "Uh..." he moaned.

He looked over at her and smiled, "Oh, its you." he said. For some reason that smile made her heart flip. "H-hey..." she stammered, "Who…what are you? Why were you in my brother's lab?" she asked. He smiled again and answered her, "That's a long, complicated story..."

That's fine, I've got plenty of time." she said back, "Okay, you did free me after all, it's the least I can do before I leave." he told her. _"Leave? Where did he intend to go?" she wondered. _"Get comfortable, because this could take a while." he continued, "It all started about ten years ago, in Hueco Mundo..."

**********************************************************

**Author's note: Well I hope you like the new character. The story should really pick up after this. The next chapter should be up by this weekend, most likely. Sorry for another cliffhanger, don't worry, chapter 3 will answer both cliffhangers. Also, i'm looking for characters, i need one more Espada and some numeros, as well as a couple shinigami. As always, review please.**

**P.S: I'm afraid this chapter didn't turn out like I wanted. My computer kept dying on me, and I kept losing work. What I had originally was really good, but I couldn't remember it all, so I did my best to make up for it. However, it is longer than the last one, by quite a bit I think. I'm also very sorry about skipping most of that fight scene in the middle, I'm not very good at them yet, and there are a few things I have to figure out before I do a serious battle with Yoake.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: *sigh* So, I've been having loads of computer problems lately, what with the Blue Screen of Doom and having my hard-drive wiped. I lost all the work I had on the last 2 chapters, which blows. Then when my computer finally started to work correctly I had to start all over, and then it wouldn't save, so I lost all my work again. Och, computers hate me. Anyway, here's what I was finally able to put together. The newest chapter of Shades of Gray.**

_**Right after the events of chapter One; Hueco Mundo.**_

_"I awoke alone, lying in the sand, I could not sense my enemy. It seemed as though he had fled after he thought he killed me. How? His last attack had deffinetly been a deathblow, yet there I was, still alive. It didn't make any sense. However, I was alive and that was what mattered, now I could hunt him down and get my revenge. It wasn't till that moment that I noticed something was wrong, I couldn't quite place my finger on what though. I stood up and shook myself off, and that's when I realized I was far to close to the ground. I looked down at myself and saw not my wolf-like form, but instead a human body._

_"What the hell?" I shouted, "What happened to my body?", but there was no one to answer my questions. I raised a hand to my face and felt that it to was human, however I still had my collar around my neck. I was also wearing a fur sash/loincloth. I looked around myself and saw a blade lying on the ground near my feet in its sheath. I decided to pick up the blade to inspect it further, "Strange.." I muttered, the blade seem to belong in my hand. "Hm.. I guess I'll keep it, then." I said as I slipped it into my sash._

_As many questions as I had about what had happened to me and what had caused it, I couldn't just stand there cluelessly, I was vulnerable. And hungry. I decided to find some food first, then I would look for shelter. I stretched out my senses looking for some prey, a lesser hollow, in case this new form of mine was weaker than my old one. I found something about half a mile away and took off for it at full speed, I reached my destination in a matter of seconds. However, the moment the hollow came in to view, it howled in pain and then desinigrated._

_"What in the hell?" I said, shocked. Since that hollow was gone I went after another, but that one desinigrated as well. "Grr... One more shot." I went after a third one, but again it desinigrated. "Is it because of me?" I questioned. This new form of mine seemed to be so powerful that lesser hollows couldn't bear to be in my prescence."_

"Wait a minute..." Yoake started, "..a-are, are you a hollow?" she stammered as she shot up to her feet. Vurmond smirked and shook his head, "Not quite, but I'll explain that later. Now just sit and listen to the rest of my story." he said. "Hmph.. fine." she responded as she sat down, somewhat frieghtened by the possibilty of him being a hollow. "You can continue now." she said when she was sitting again. "Thank you, now where was I..?" Vurmond said as he slipped back into his memory.

_"So I wandered alone and hungry for a while, every hollow I came near was crushed by my massive spiritual pressure. It seemed I was doomed to be alone. Eventually though, I did find a few hollows who were strong enough to be near me, I fed on them. The hunger eventually dwindled down to nothing, a feeling that was very new to me. However, I could not dwell on that now, I needed shelter. I had seen a cave a mile or so back, so I decided to stay there. Once I arrived at the cave, I decided I was safe and could finally rest. The moment I sat down I drifted off to sleep. This time I wasn't haunted by any nightmares."_

_"Years passed in this way, until I grew bored of the never ending darkness of Hueco Mundo. I decided to venture to the Soul Society, a decision I would soon regret. I opened a Garganta and stepped through it into the Dangai; I was filled with nostalgia, I hadn't done this in a long while. I walked through the Dangai until I arrived at the other side of my portal: The Soul Society. When I came out of my Garganta, I was in the outskirts of the Rukon District."_

_"I had only been here once before, a long time ago, at least half a century. I had come with my pack, and we had barely managed to escape in one piece. But this time I was alone, and far more powerful. I took a look at my surroundings, there were a lot of trees, and no people to be seen, it was night-time here. This is good, I can get a good look around without being interrupted; or so I thought._

Yaoke sat there, starring at him in shock, "So...?" she muttered, confused, "What happened next?" she asked. "You should be able to guess that, I was captured by your brother and his friend; they had been following me since I stepped out of my Garganta. Apparently, they had been patrolling the area." Vurmond answered, then shrugged, "I guess I should have expected something like that, after all I did come to the Soul Society, there were bound to be Shinigami nearby." He sat up and took a long look at her, for the first time. She looked at bit younger then him, and she was attractive, to say the least. Shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes, a nice figure, and a cute face. Plus, she didn't seem scared of him, which was good. He liked her already. She was wearing Shinigami robes and had a zanpaku-to, but he couldn't tell her rank.

"How long were you down there?" Yaoke asked. "Hm... hard to tell, but probably around 5 years." Vurmond stated, before standing up. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to get out of here before your brother and his friend realize I'm not in the lab." he started across the room towards the door, "Wait, you can't go out there like that." Yaoke exclaimed, "You need clothes first, then we can find you a way back to Hueco Mundo." she explained.

_"Odd, a shinigami helping me?" _Vurmond thought, then he shrugged, "Okay, fine. I'll stay here while you go find me some clothes and we can get out of here." Yaoke headed for the door, as she was leaving Vurmond smiled and said, "Thank you lass." she stopped and looked at him and smiled, "My name is Yaoke, and you're welcome." she responded. "Vurmond, Vurmond Croft." he said, "I'm pleased to meet you Yaoke." Yaoke nodded then left the room, closing the door behind her, and headed down the hallway.

**...And that is that. A new chapter to Shades of Grey finally. I'm sorry for the long wait. I'll try to make it up to you with a bunch of new chapters once summer starts, Okay?**

**Also, next chapter things finally get interesting, but I can't tell you too much. Soon there will be the Espada, though.**


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